Toll Brothers Offers 3.99 Percent Mortgage

It's a buyer's market for golfers interested in joining golf clubs -- and it isn't bad for those who want to build a house on a golf course either.

Toll Brothers, the Pennsylvania-based giant (but recently struggling) home construction company -- many of whose communities are attached to golf course developments -- this week announced an aggressive program to try and entice cautious customers off the sidelines. Contract with Toll to build your new home and the company will give you a 30-year mortgage with a fixed interest rate of 3.99 percent (that's for a non-jumbo mortage, i.e., less than $417,000). That's about a point below the national average.

According to a story in the Wall Street Journal, the program comes on the heels of other enticements offered by Toll (free gourmet kitchens, tropical vacations and travel reimbursements for customers who wind up making a purchase), as well as similar deals offered by other builders (for example, Centex will give buyers a 3.5 percent mortgage for two years, then lock in at 4.5 percent).

-- G.R.